Houston, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/29/2013 -- New research indicates that the Smart Sugar Trehalose has an anti-depressant effect. This discovery may open a new pathway for overcoming stress.
JC Spencer, CEO of The Endowment for Medical Research in Houston, Texas, said, “A newly published paper from Israel shows that Trehalose induced an anti-depressant effect in laboratory animals.” Mr. Spencer has assisted universities and research laboratories in six countries by supplying the sugar Trehalose for further study.
Professor Haim Einat, Ph.D., with the School of Behavioral Sciences, Tel Aviv-Yaffo Academic College, Tel-Aviv, Israel, one of the authors of the paper, told Mr. Spencer, “We are continuing to work on the behavioral and biochemical effects of trehalose and we believe that it might have much potential in our field of affective disorders, both as a possible treatment option and as an additional avenue for us to better understand that pathophysiology and treatment mechanisms in depression. I wish to thank you again for your generous donation of trehalose.”
The collaborative effort included Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel and the College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota in Duluth, USA.
The study was designed to explore antidepressant and mood stabilizing activity of trehalose in animal models for depression and mania. It is hypothesized that these behavioral changes could be related to trehalose effects to enhance autophagy. Autophagy is a major protein degradation pathway that is essential for stress-induced and constitutive protein folding. Autophagy is the controlled digestion of damaged organelles within a cell and the maintenance of bodily nutrition by the metabolic breakdown of some bodily tissues. It is necessary for the clearance of toxic protein waste especially from neurons. It is believed that to achieve autophagy enhancement is a significant discovery, especially if further studies confirm that indeed trehalose can play a role in human behavioral levels.
Trehalose has long been known for cell membrane protection against stress, health benefits by helping to properly fold proteins, and is effective against neurodegenerative challenges. This study helps explain the pathway these benefits are accomplished.
About The Endowment for Medical Research
The Endowment for Medical Research, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit research and educational public charity, offers continuing education in the field of glycoscience. A part of their educational program is to make available to the general public free information through www.DiabeticHope.com
The PubMed abstract link is:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23644913